tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/perfume-7277/articlesPerfume – The Conversation2018-02-15T23:58:14Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/919142018-02-15T23:58:14Z2018-02-15T23:58:14ZCommon products, like perfume, paint and printer ink, are polluting the atmosphere<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206695/original/file-20180215-131000-1ie7l5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We need to measure the volatile compounds that waft off the products in our homes and offices.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Picture the causes of air pollution in a major city and you are likely to visualise pollutants spewing out of cars, trucks and buses.</p>
<p>For some types of air pollutants, however, transportation is only half as important as the chemicals in everyday consumer products like cleaning agents, printer ink, and fragrances, according to a study <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/359/6377/760?utm_source=AusSMC%20mailing%20list&amp;utm_campaign=9d3433ba95-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_15&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_90d9431cd5-9d3433ba95-137625618">published today in Science</a>.</p>
<h2>Air pollution: a chemical soup</h2>
<p>Air pollution is a serious health concern, <a href="https://theconversation.com/air-pollution-causes-more-than-3-million-premature-deaths-a-year-worldwide-47639">responsible for millions of premature deaths each year</a>, with even <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-set-to-increase-air-pollution-deaths-by-hundreds-of-thousands-by-2100-81830">more anticipated due to climate change</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/climate-change-set-to-increase-air-pollution-deaths-by-hundreds-of-thousands-by-2100-81830">Climate change set to increase air pollution deaths by hundreds of thousands by 2100</a>
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<p>Although we typically picture pollution as coming directly from cars or power plants, a large fraction of air pollution actually comes from chemical reactions that happen in the atmosphere. One necessary starting point for that chemistry is a group of hundreds of molecules collectively known as “volatile organic compounds” (VOCs).</p>
<p>VOCs in the atmosphere can come from many different sources, both man-made and <a href="https://blogs.csiro.au/ecos/beating-eucalypt-blues-new-ways-model-air-quality/">natural</a>. In urban areas, VOCs have historically been blamed largely on <a href="https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/15/9983/2015/">vehicle fuels (both gasoline and diesel) and natural gas</a>.</p>
<h2>Fuel emissions are dropping</h2>
<p>Thanks in part to more stringent environmental regulations and in part to technological advances, VOCs released into the air by vehicles have <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120810134105.htm">dropped dramatically</a>.</p>
<p>In this new study, the researchers used detailed energy and chemical production records to figure out what fraction of the VOCs from oil and natural gas are released by vehicle fuels versus other sources. They found that the decline in vehicle emissions means that – in a relative sense – nearly twice as much comes from chemical products as comes from vehicle fuel, at least in the US. Those chemicals include cleaning products, paints, fragrances and printer ink – all things found in modern homes.</p>
<p>The VOCs from these products get into the air because they evaporate easily. In fact, in many cases, this is exactly what they are designed to do. Without evaporating VOCs, we wouldn’t be able to smell the scents wafting by from perfumes, scented candles, or air fresheners.</p>
<p>Overall, this is a good news story: VOCs from fuel use have decreased, so the air is cleaner. Since the contribution from fuels has dropped, it is not surprising that chemical products, which have not been as tightly regulated, are now responsible for a larger share of the VOCs.</p>
<h2>Predicting air quality</h2>
<p>An important finding from this work is that these chemical products have largely been ignored when constructing the models that we use to predict air pollution – which impacts how we respond to and regulate pollutants.</p>
<p>The researchers found that ignoring the VOCs from chemical products had significant impacts on predictions of air quality. In outdoor environments, they found that these products could be responsible for as much as 60% of the particles that formed chemically in the air above Los Angeles.</p>
<p>The effects were even larger indoors – a major concern as <a href="https://soe.environment.gov.au/theme/ambient-air-quality/topic/indoor-air-quality-2">we spend most of our time indoors</a>. Without accounting for chemical products, a model of indoor air pollutants under-predicted measurements by a whopping 87%. Including the consumer products really helped to fix this problem.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/we-cant-afford-to-ignore-indoor-air-quality-our-lives-depend-on-it-87329">We can't afford to ignore indoor air quality – our lives depend on it</a>
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<h2>What does this mean for Australia?</h2>
<p>In Australia we do a <a href="http://www.npi.gov.au/resource/total-volatile-organic-compounds">stocktake of our VOC emissions</a> to the air every few years. Our vehicle-related VOC emissions <a href="https://soe.environment.gov.au/theme/ambient-air-quality/topic/2016/management-sources-pollution#figure-atm41-historical-and-projected-trends-in-road-transport-emissions-1970%E2%80%932030--117456">have also been dropping</a> and are now only about a quarter as large as they were in 1990.</p>
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<span class="caption">Historical and projected trends in Australia’s road transport emissions of VOCs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided, adapted from Australia State of the Environment 2016: atmosphere</span></span>
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<p>Nonetheless, the most recent check suggests most of our VOCs still come from <a href="https://soe.environment.gov.au/theme/ambient-air-quality/topic/2016/volatile-organic-compounds">cars and trucks, factories and fires</a>. Still, consumer products can’t be ignored – especially as our urban population <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sydney-population-booms-and-the-only-way-is-up-and-in-20160911-grdv4b.html">continues</a> <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/4-million-5-million-8-million-how-big-is-too-big-for-liveable-melbourne-20170630-gx1uo9.html">to</a> <a href="http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/acts-population-projected-to-hit-421000-by-2020-20170313-guwqzv.html">grow</a>. Because these sources are spread out across the city, their contributions can be difficult to estimate accurately.</p>
<p>We need to make sure our future VOC stocktakes include sources from consumer products such as cleaning fluids, indoor fragrances and home office items like printing ink. The stocktakes are used as the basis for our models, and comparing models to measurements helps us understand what affects our air quality and how best to improve it. It was a lack of model-to-measurement agreement that helped to uncover <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/sep/22/vw-scandal-caused-nearly-1m-tonnes-of-extra-pollution-analysis-shows">the VW vehicle emissions scandal</a>, where the manufacturer was deliberately under-estimating how much nitrogen gas was being released through the exhaust.</p>
<p>If we can’t get our predictions to agree with the indoor measurements, we’ll need to work harder to identify all the emission sources correctly. This means going into <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/87d5dedd-62c2-479c-a001-a667eae21f7c/files/indoor-air-project-dwellings.pdf">typical Australian homes</a>, making air quality measurements, and noting what activities are happening at the same time (like cooking, cleaning or decorating).</p>
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Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/heading-back-to-the-office-bring-these-plants-with-you-to-fight-formaldehyde-and-other-nasties-87758">Heading back to the office? Bring these plants with you to fight formaldehyde (and other nasties)</a>
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<h2>What should we do now?</h2>
<p>If we want to keep air pollution to a minimum, it will become increasingly important to take into account the VOCs from chemical products, both in our models of air pollution and in our regulatory actions.</p>
<p>In the meantime, as we spend so much of our time indoors, it makes sense to try to limit our personal exposure to these VOCs. There are several things we can do, such as choosing fragrance-free cleaning products and keeping our use of scented candles and air fresheners to a minimum. Research from NASA has also shown that growing house plants like weeping figs and spider plants can help to <a href="https://www.boredpanda.com/best-air-filtering-houseplants-nasa/">remove some of the VOCs from indoor air</a>.</p>
<p>And of course, we can always open a window (as long as we keep the outdoor air clean, too).</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91914/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jenny Fisher receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Department of the Environment, and the L&#39;Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Fellowship programme. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathryn Emmerson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A surprising study published in Science found that as fuel emissions drop, consumer products are playing a larger role in air pollution.Jenny Fisher, Senior Lecturer in Atmospheric Chemistry, University of WollongongKathryn Emmerson, CSIROLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/856482017-10-23T19:07:48Z2017-10-23T19:07:48ZRepresentations of women and brand positioning at Christian Dior<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190021/original/file-20171012-31440-mwirbt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Miss Dior, 1947</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This year marks the 70th anniversary of Christian Dior’s first fragrance for women. It thus seems a suitable moment to examine the representations of women conveyed by Dior perfumes. We performed a semiotic analysis of the positioning strategies of four brands from the House of Dior: J’adore, Poison, Miss Dior and Addict.</p>
<h2>Positioning as a marketing strategy</h2>
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<span class="caption">The couturier Christian Dior launched his first perfume in 1947.</span>
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<p>Brand positioning is a key concept in marketing. By positioning a brand, marketers <a href="http://catalogue.pearsoned.co.uk/educator/product/Marketing-Management-Global-Edition/9781292092621.page">differentiate</a> it from competitors in the consumer’s mind. The points of difference that are emphasised can be based on objective attributes (e.g., the durability of Volvos), but they may be completely imaginary (e.g., the Marlboro Man and his message that “real men” only smoke Marlboros). Positioning is crucial for brand identification, especially since it is well known that consumers tend to choose brands with an image and values they can or want to identify with. In other words, brands that resemble an ideal self.</p>
<p>The market for fragrances provides an excellent example of positioning strategies. As the very choice of a perfume is related to self-expression, touching on issues of gender representations and seduction, the positioning strategies in this sector are particularly interesting to explore.</p>
<h2>Positioning strategies in the perfume sector</h2>
<p>In the 1990s, the American semiotician Laura Oswald conducted <a href="http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199566495.001.0001/acprof-9780199566495-chapter-3">a study</a> on thirty high-end brands of perfume, including those from Calvin Klein, Chanel, Clarins, Clinique, Dior, Elizabeth Arden, Estée Lauder, Lancôme, Ralph Lauren and Yves Saint Laurent. In her analysis, she noted that the brand advertising strategies generally focused on different representations of women, doing so by calling on female stereotypes that consumers were likely to identify with. She observed two main types of positioning that corresponded to two very different interpretations of femininity: the “goddess” and the “girl next door”. She also found that these two types of positioning were related to specific visual codes.</p>
<p>Brands expressing the “goddess” image mostly made use of unreal and timeless backgrounds and the advertisements were rich in colour, texture and pattern. The camera angle, framing and background all worked together to place the model in a dreamlike space devoid of all human relationship. The “goddess” was thus represented as much admired but an unattainable ideal.</p>
<p>The brands expressing the image of the “girl next door”, on the other hand, sought to capture a “slice of life” of real women. The advertisements were mostly in black-and-white and the shots were framed more tightly, with realistic scenery and the models dressed rather simply. These women were usually interacting with another person, a man or a child. Although top models were featured, they portrayed an “everyday” woman anchored in real life.</p>
<p>Oswald’s study is still relevant in many respects. Notably, the brands J’adore, Poison, Miss Dior and Addict all use different representations of women in their positioning strategies. However, although the goddess image is still with us, Dior offers several interpretations of the feminine in their print advertisements that were not described by Oswald.</p>
<h2>J’adore: An unattainable sun goddess</h2>
<p>J’adore corresponds most to Oswald’s original analysis. First, the brand name itself anchors the perfume in the realm of the divine. The first meaning of the verb <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/adore"><em>to adore</em></a> is “to worship or honour as a deity”, and the visual codes in the advertisement are very close to those described in Oswald’s work. In the advertisement presented below, Charlize Theron is alone, emerging from the water, and is shot from a low-angle point of view. </p>
<p>According to the principles of intertextuality, the advertisement also evokes <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birth_of_Venus"><em>The Birth of Venus</em></a>, adding another reference to the figure of the goddess. It is also interesting to note that several visual elements are presented vertically, enhancing the theme of elevation: the displacement of the letters of the logo, the actress’s posture and upward gaze, the dawn scenery, and the elongated shape of the bottle. Everything is designed to suggest that J’adore is a fragrance of divine essence that can elevate women to the status of goddess, turning them into objects of adoration.</p>
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<span class="caption">J’adore, le féminin absolu.</span>
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<h2>Poison: a female devil with a lethal power of seduction</h2>
<p>Poison is the antithesis of J’adore in many respects. The name is negatively connoted and anchors the brand in a world of black magic and <a href="http://www.persee.fr/doc/colan_0336-1500_2002_num_132_1_3144">sorcery</a>. This is obviously not to be taken literally but is rather a <a href="http://www.uky.edu/%7Engrant/CJT780/readings/Day%205/McQuarrieMick1996.pdf">trope</a> suggesting that the perfume is as dangerous and powerful as a poison. Poison is thus positioned as a weapon of seduction and activates a new image of the woman: no longer a goddess but a devil, succubus or “femme fatale”. The visual codes are related to this positioning, with torsion replacing elevation. </p>
<p>The shape of the bottle and stopper, the Poison custom typeface and the representation of the snake all illustrate this. This visual cue ‒ in addition to the word <em>hypnotic</em> and the posture and sultry gaze of Monica Belluci ‒ conveys the themes of seduction and bewitchment. Torsion indeed suggests a coiling and constricting force. Poison thus presents itself as a lure, suggesting that the women who wear it can take their victims <a href="https://questionsdecommunication.revues.org/8350">captive</a>.</p>
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<span class="caption">Hypnotic Poison, Dior est mon poison.</span>
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<h2>Miss Dior: a not-quite-well-behaved debutante</h2>
<p>Miss Dior represents another image of femininity, more realistic but still fantasized. The name immediately anchors the brand in the universe of youth. <em>Miss</em> calls up the image of a young woman, whereas J’adore and Poison seem to address more adult women. The female representation conveyed by Miss Dior is realistic in that it does not conjure up a mythological creature like a goddess or devil. Yet, it doesn’t quite match the “girl next door” described by Oswald either. Miss Dior is always depicted in opulent interiors and thus embodies a “well-bred” girl of high social standing. Yet her youth and social status do not imply chastity. </p>
<p>In an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6r9Ti_3M8M">interview</a>, Nathalie Portman called her a “modern princess”, with “modern” here probably meaning “sexually liberated”. Indeed, <a href="http://www.hawtcelebs.com/natalie-portman-miss-dior-2017/">recent advertisements</a> show Miss Dior as increasingly scantily clad, even though the dresses recall the sweetness of doll’s clothing. The image conveyed is therefore paradoxical: although liberated, the modern princess remains waiting in her private palace for a prince to “free” her. The bow tie on the bottle is interesting in this respect as it may suggest an invitation to untie it. The other visual codes are consistent with the themes of “youth” and “high social standing’: pastel colours, flower patterns, and a cursive typeface for the logo.</p>
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<span class="caption">Miss Dior, blooming bouquet.</span>
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<h2>Addict: a woman in thrall to her desires?</h2>
<p>The positioning of Addict is a bit more difficult to analyse. The marketing investment seems to have been smaller and the communication campaign is visually less coherent. The positioning is thus less clear and may have changed over time. Nevertheless, as for the other three perfumes, the name anchors the brand in a universe, in this case, addiction and dependence. The advertisement below is fairly unambiguous and indicates that the addiction is to sex. The model seems to be in the throes of a desire that she cannot control and evokes the character of Claudia Cristiani in Manara’s famous graphic novel series, <a href="https://www.darkhorse.com/Books/29-966/Manara-Erotica-Volume-1-Click-and-Other-Stories-TPB">Click</a>. The image of women depicted here seems to be that of a "sex addict”. Yet, she doesn’t appear as a liberated woman. The tagline “Admit it” suggests that this hypersexuality is not accepted and the negative connotation of the term “Addict” suggests that it is a problem.</p>
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<span class="caption">Dior Addict, Admit it.</span>
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<p>The female stereotypes conveyed by brands in advertising have often been criticised. Here, it is clear that the representations conveyed by the perfume brands are somewhat archaic: ancient goddess, diabolical succubus, princess waiting to be freed and “sex addict” struggling against powerful urges. With the exception of the figure of the goddess, who transcends her feminine condition, these women do not appear completely liberated. If the devil of Poison asserts her power, it is only a power of seduction, with the implication of a need to please.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.youscribe.com/BookReader/Index/1207639/?documentId=1186604">Erwan François</a> observed that perfume brands could undoubtedly communicate more contemporary images of femininity: women as artists, activists, entrepreneurs, intellectuals, adventurers, and so on. It is nevertheless clear that the representations from Dior are mostly fantasies and should not be taken too seriously. The women consuming these products can indeed play with the proposed archetypes, or even reinterpret them, according to their own personalities. In this respect, it would be interesting to understand how female consumers actually appropriate the representations proposed by these brands.</p>
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<p><em>This article was copyedited by Cathy Stott.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85648/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>On the occasion of the 2017 exhibition "Christian Dior: spirit of perfumes" at the International Perfume Museum of Grasse, we analyse the strategic positioning of four of Dior’s emblematic fragrances.Franck Celhay, Associate professor, Montpellier Business School – UGEILise Magnier, Assistant Professor of Consumer Research, Delft University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/833772017-09-05T11:54:04Z2017-09-05T11:54:04ZChanel's new fragrance reminds us of the rebel entrepreneur who started it all<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184536/original/file-20170904-17912-1hv8pjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;rect=97%2C65%2C2432%2C1408&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/chanel-dubai-mall-may-2016-599082746?src=ld5E9FrW8lzATwy2qzQaOQ-1-70">NadiaMaha/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Chanel has released its first new feminine fragrance for 14 years. The perfume, “Gabrielle”, is named after the eponymous founder before she was known as Coco. It is a reference to the company’s youth, when an inexperienced entrepreneur willing to take risks set a course that should inspire modern-day women in business to do the same. </p>
<p>In the 100 years since Chanel set up shop, her brand has become a <a href="http://academic.mintel.com/display/793741/">distinct, trusted</a>, exclusive, and globally recognised marque. It is a <a href="https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/publication/edea5716-c8c1-4771-b5f4-69aa7d53cffc">heritage brand</a> that has somehow retained a place as an expression of modernity. The promotion of the new fragrance makes reference to <a href="http://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/designers/videos/a20815/chanel-year-of-gabrielle/">Chanel’s rebellious nature</a> in a bid to attract new millennial devotees. The hope is that it will also reinforce Chanel’s luxury status and retain the core 24-35-year-old consumers in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2017/sep/01/uk-perfume-shops-hope-new-chanel-fragrance-can-mask-foul-sales">challenging market conditions</a>.</p>
<p>Coco Chanel’s life and personal qualities have been front and centre of the story. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1035736/">Movies have tried to combine</a> products and personal identity in tales where Chanel the business person is never detached from her life story or love life. Her abandonment in childhood suggests a motivation to escape poverty and seek a work identity, to make something of herself. </p>
<p>But the dramatic narrative can detract from seeing her contribution as a straightforward business entrepreneur and style innovator. The company was built on her ability to <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com.libaccess.hud.ac.uk/science/article/pii/S0883902611000620?_rdoc=1&amp;_fmt=high&amp;_origin=gateway&amp;_docanchor=&amp;md5=b8429449ccfc9c30159a5f9aeaa92ffb">spot market opportunities</a> and then align fashion and fragrances with emerging lifestyle trends, not on her intriguing back story. Her complicated relationships – where friends and lovers were business partners, creative mentors and the <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jsbm.12080/pdf">means to market</a> – in fact stress the importance of building a network. </p>
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<h2>Little black dress</h2>
<p>As with many good start-ups, it began with a key insight. Chanel, who died in 1971, could see the desire for a new self expression that emerged from the first world war. She combined jersey wear, the sailor’s blouse, the trouser suit, tweed and the little black dress in her collections. She blended masculine and feminine, work and leisure identities with affordable fabrics in a <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.2752/175174110X12665093381504">new system of style</a>. </p>
<p>Her innovations were creative disruptions of which tech innovators today would be proud. She enabled a new way of being fashionable and changed industry norms. She had a sense of how clothing should feel, paying particular attention to the selection and use of fabrics. For example, jersey was affordable but not best suited to highly structured clothing. Chanel embraced the fluidity of the fabric by designing looser clothing with a dropped waistline. The little black dress was the consummation of efforts to achieve elegance through simplicity.</p>
<p>Chanel’s fashion innovations demonstrated her talent for creativity within constraints. She dealt with limited resources in the early days, working from an apartment to remodel and sell on hats bought from department stores. Later, she contended with skills gaps in production and distribution as the business matured. Modern-day entrepreneurs will have run into similar issues acquiring and accessing resources while in start up mode. </p>
<p>Chanel the business <a href="http://inside.chanel.com/en/timeline/1910_chanel-modes">grew from that small millinery operation</a> founded in 1910 to a diversified fashion and fragrance conglomerate. Created in 1921, Chanel No.5 remains one of the <a href="https://search-proquest-com.libaccess.hud.ac.uk/docview/1033778548?pq-origsite=summon">bestselling fragrances in the world</a>. </p>
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<span class="caption">Making an icon of a brand.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/paris-june-17-bottle-chanel-no-664907200?src=S4WLAjBRKeE1YM_NWR9MFg-1-10">vihrogone/Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Working with parfumer, Ernest Beaux, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14511.Perfume_Legends">the scent was pioneering</a>. It used higher levels of aldehydes to <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-13565155">create a richer scent</a>, which Chanel hoped would be difficult to copy. The bottle design was based on one from a men’s toiletry travel set. Again, Chanel challenged convention through design; redefining luxury through simplicity in a subtle rebellion against prevailing norms. </p>
<p>Behind the scenes, Chanel used her social network to good effect. When demand for No.5 increased, she formed a business relationship with the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Coco-Chanel-Famous-Fashion-Designers/dp/1604139250">Wertheimer brothers</a> for the production and distribution of the scent. Where she did not have the skills or business capacity she accepted the need to outsource.</p>
<p>If entrepreneurship is a matter of seeing and exploiting opportunities for business with scalable market appeal then Chanel fits the bill. She was also able to diversify the business from fashion to fragrance, seeing that one could support the other if the brand and brand values could be shared. The use of her name was both a risk and a means of self-verification, an expression of self-belief in her and her business. </p>
<h2>Taking chances</h2>
<p>Among her fellow female entrepreneurs, both then and now, it is often issues of risk and self belief that prevent the move into business. It is <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jsbm.12080/pdf">a complex issue to explore</a>, but it is generally assumed the females have a less positive attitude towards risk and this can dampen the motivation to drive new ventures. The research is not conclusive; it may be that studies struggle to distinguish between financial, context-specific <a href="http://bit.ly/2x4yJWd">and personal risk</a>. </p>
<p>Women may also maintain different life and work-related values to men, in some cases constrained by wider societal and <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/17566261011079242">cultural values</a>. Does society expect women to pursue secure and stable employment, rather than follow Chanel’s rebellious path? The gender gap in start ups suggests that fewer businesses are initiated by women, and that a lack of self-belief <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-0084.2011.00689.x/abstract">has a part to play</a> in limiting intentions.</p>
<p>Perhaps Chanel’s early life experiences and the poverty that followed did help forge her business identity. It was a combination of <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com.libaccess.hud.ac.uk/doi/abs/10.1108/17542410910968805">push and pull</a> that allowed her to challenge social attitudes towards women in business and about how women do business. Research is inconclusive as to why there are still fewer female entrepreneurs, but there is some accord in the need for targeted support mechanisms, for <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/IJEBR-08-2014-0146">improving access to finance</a> and exploring alternative approaches <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226376565_Entrepreneurial_intention_The_role_of_gender">to entrepreneurship education</a>.</p>
<p>By exploiting opportunities that arose from economic, social and technological change, by acknowledging and managing risk, and by the use of social and financial networks, Chanel challenged the conventions of fashion and beauty. If the new fragrance is meant to be an expression of rebellion, then this should also be the message from Coco to a modern generation of entrepreneurs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83377/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leigh Morland does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>'Gabrielle' the perfume harks back to Coco's early days and the business instincts that built a global brand.Leigh Morland, Principal Lecturer - Department of Management, University of HuddersfieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/805512017-07-11T19:40:01Z2017-07-11T19:40:01ZHermès: behind the scenes of the French luxury gem<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176869/original/file-20170705-16513-vtxm9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Hermès building in Tokyo, designed by Renzo Piano (Ginza 5, Chuo-ku, Tokyo).</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://visualhunt.com/f/photo/2233042034/65b75c7ceb/">Naoya Fujii/Visual Hunt</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Hermès is a quintessential French luxury brand. But behind the beauty, refinement and quality of its products, the company is also financially strong. What are the cornerstones of its success?</p>
<p>The group published outstanding figures for the 2016 financial year, recording sales of more than 5 billion euros (up 7.5%). While the two leading companies in the luxury market (LVMH and Richemont, according to a Deloitte study, <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/consumer-industrial-products/gx-cip-global-powers-luxury-2017.pdf">“Global Powers of Luxury Goods 2017”</a>) far surpass Hermès in turnover (37.6 billion euros for LVMH at the end of December 2016, and 10.6 billion euros for the Swiss company at the end of March 2017), no luxury industry group beats Hermès’ performance. In 2016, the company’s net profit represented 21.1% of sales, far above the industry average of 8.95% and ahead of both LVMH (10.5%) and the Richemont Group (11.36%). </p>
<p>In our opinion, Hermès’ four major strengths are: a real identity, the creativity and skills of its artisans, innovation, and the fact that it remains an independent family company. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174728/original/file-20170620-30872-14kgdf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174728/original/file-20170620-30872-14kgdf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Maison Hermès, Dosan Park, Seoul.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/eager/5067080349/in/photolist-9S3Afc-pqeHaS-9S6uEo-8HL7mc-FXpKS-8HPdS9-8HPevS-8HPffJ-8HPerJ-K5mSW-8HL74k-8HPfw3-8HPez9-8HL7eR-8HPeb9-8HL77B-8HL7Dk-8szJWp-8HPeCL-8HPeRd-Uo5fKq-8HPeio-8HPe15-8HPenw-8HL716-8CTQ9B-8HL6QR-8HL7si-8HL6c4-2DCKhm-8HPeEU-8HPeeQ-8HL7zP-8HPfoG-8HL69z-8HPfGS-rFmhax-HoBGKF-AqmXB4-ULrjc2-FPZVoP-ULrjk8-Uo5fEW-TFGdAo-ULrjtz-tEXRFK-8HPeUu-8HL61R-FXpJY-s8Dr5c">Forgemind ArchiMedia/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A real identity</h2>
<p>Founded by Thierry Hermès in Paris, in 1837, the company established its identity through its products. After starting out with horse-riding and carriage accessories, today the group operates in a wide range of sectors (detailed in its <a href="http://finance.hermes.com/var/finances/storage/original/application/dfd39887394237400c6fbfbcec6245a5.pdf">2016 reference document</a>, including clothes and accessories (21% of sales), silk and textiles (10%), perfumes (5%), watches (3%) and other products (4%), including jewelry, lifestyle products and home wares. Accounting for 50% of sales, leather goods and saddlery still make up the backbone of the company. </p>
<p>The group is deeply attached to its French identity: it is not simply “Hermès”, but “Hermès Paris”. The majority of its products are still manufactured in France, with 4,300 craftspeople and 61.4% of its workforce located within the country. </p>
<p>Maintaining a large part of their manufacturing in France is a key element of Hermès strategy. This contrasts with a number of companies in the luxury sector that have looked overseas in a search for short-term profits, a phenomenon decried by Dana Thomas in her book, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/21/books/21kaku.html"><em>Deluxe : How Luxury Lost Its Lustre</em></a>.</p>
<p>The exceptional creativity and skills handed down from generation to generation constitute the second plank of the Hermès strategy. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174730/original/file-20170620-30863-2q2gcb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174730/original/file-20170620-30863-2q2gcb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hermès ad, 1923.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikipedia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Creativity and skills of its artisans</h2>
<p>In 2007, Jean Louis Dumas, the group’s iconic chairman from 1978 to 2006, told <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2007/09/hermes200709">Vanity Fair</a>: “We don’t have a policy of image; we have a policy of product.”</p>
<p>Hermès would not be Hermès without timeless, iconic models such as <a href="http://usa.hermes.com/kelly/us">“The Kelly bag”</a> (created in 1930, renamed in 1956) and the much larger <a href="http://usa.hermes.com/birkin/us">“The Birkin Bag”</a> (1984). </p>
<p>It takes two years for an artisan to learn how to work leather and six years when it comes to precious leathers. One of Hermès’ core principles is that each bag be made by the same artisan, from start to finish. As Axel Dumas always says, “The rule of one bag, one artisan is part of our DNA”. </p>
<p>At Hermès, the idea of responsibility is very important – the artisan must master all of the different stages of fabrication. Quality begins with the choice of materials. To secure its supply of the highest-quality raw materials, Hermès purchased three Australian crocodile farms at the end of 2012. </p>
<p>The company’s third strength lies in its combination of creativity, invention and innovation. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174731/original/file-20170620-30812-1vcs9ve.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174731/original/file-20170620-30812-1vcs9ve.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Hermès store on Avenue George V, in Paris’ 8th arrondissement.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Moonik/Wikipedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Sense of innovation</h2>
<p>To give just a few examples, Hermès launched <a href="http://stylebubble.co.uk/style_bubble/2013/11/petit-h-at-hermes-dont-throw-anything-away.html">Petit h</a> in 2010, under the direction of Pascale Mussard, whose motto is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZVBC2XrAPw">“Don’t throw anything away, we will always find a use for it”</a>. The majority of these pieces are on display in a 1,500-square-meter room at <a href="https://senatus.net/article/hermes-opens-new-store-17-rue-de-sevres/">17, rue de Sèvres</a>, which opened in 2010. Formerly the pool of the hotel Lutetia, the space was listed as a historical monument in 2005. This contrasts with the boutique at 24, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, which has a modern style, vast spaces, and light-colored wood. This makes for a very different, but unmistakably Parisian, atmosphere. The space also includes a florist, tea shop and bookstore.</p>
<p>Petit h shows another side of Hermès luxury, demonstrating how much the group strives to make high-quality products available while meeting clients’ expectations in terms of environmental responsibility and sustainable development. More recently, Hermès worked with Apple to create handcrafted leather bands for the <a href="https://www.imore.com/apple-watch-herm-s-launches-tomorrow-heres-everything-you-need-know">Hermès Apple Watch</a>, released October 2015. While this might seem a minor sales’ contributor (unfortunately, sales figures aren’t available), it created extensive media buzz. </p>
<p>Finally, the last plank of the Hermès strategy is its shareholding and management structures. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174736/original/file-20170620-12807-v2qchj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174736/original/file-20170620-12807-v2qchj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The group’s executive board. From left to right : Eric du Halgouët, Guillaume de Seynes, Olivier Fournier, Pierre-Alexis Dumas, Charlotte David, Wilfried Guerrand, Axel Dumas, Florian Craen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://finance.hermes.com/Gouvernement-d-entreprise/Direction-du-groupe/Le-Comite-executif">Hermès</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<h2>An independent family company</h2>
<p>The group has been run almost exclusively by the family since its creation in 1837. At present, Axel Dumas (the sixth generation) is the sole manager. Company control has also essentially remained within the family since Hermès entered the Paris stock market in 1993. The only exception occurred between 2010 and 2014, at the time of the so-called “Hermès affair”, which was been laid out in <a href="http://www.thefashionlaw.com/home/hermes-vs-lvmh-a-timeline-of-the-drama">“Hermès vs LVMH : A timeline of the drama”</a>, in <em>The Fashion Law</em>.</p>
<p>By keeping control and capital within the family, Hermès has been able to maintain its independence and its unique long-term model. Between 2007 and 2016 the company’s turnover increased by a factor of 3.2 and their operating income quadrupled. As of July 10, 2017, the share price was valued at 442.40 euros. Hermès market capitalization was above 46.2 billion euros, which is 24 times its <a href="http://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/ebitda.asp">EBITDA</a>, or nearly nine times its turnover. </p>
<p>A perfect combination of tradition and modernity, Hermès has been able to evolve while keeping an eye on the upcoming challenges. It has also taken measures towards the vertical integration of its supply chain, controlling its retail network, continuing a policy of no licensing and creating greater geographical and product diversification, to avoid overdependence on saddlery and leather goods. </p>
<p>Yet the company must ensure it does not overly rely on diversification, offering thousands of different products. Some lines could be discontinued, such as watch-making, which is constantly losing market share. Lastly, Hermès needs to embrace the digital revolution and offer an attractive online experience as a complement to their real-world boutiques. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174737/original/file-20170620-12940-1pz4br6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174737/original/file-20170620-12940-1pz4br6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rooftop sign.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://visualhunt.com/f/photo/3307500306/be8cc794a5/">twiga269/Visual Hunt</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some 180 years after its birth, Hermès still excites the imagination of potential clients with unparalleled products, while generating profits and cash flows. At end 2016, its cash and cash equivalents amounted to 2.3 billion euros, with hardly any debt. </p>
<p>But what will the next step be? As a publically listed company, Hermès is required to be more forthcoming than it might prefer. Given its impressive war chest, it’s possible that the family – which bought back almost 70% of the company’s capital – may one day delist it to prevent a hostile takeover. Given the stock’s current valuation it would be an extremely costly move, but isn’t out of the question for a family that has always remained true to its roots and vision.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80551/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Isabelle Chaboud does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Case analysis of Hermès and its four strengths: a real identity, the creativity and skills of its artisans, innovation, and the fact that it remains an independent family company.Isabelle Chaboud, Professeur associé d’analyse financière, d’audit et de risk management, Grenoble École de Management (GEM)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/788322017-06-15T04:15:04Z2017-06-15T04:15:04ZArmpits and melons: an olfactory reading of James Joyce<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173731/original/file-20170614-21325-1wwhojv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;rect=0%2C0%2C4288%2C2848&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many literary questions about smell are quite philosophical. Why do humans get pleasure from perfumes? Do rich bodies smell differently from poor ones?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Smell is the Cinderella of the senses in Anglophone literature. The Europeans do it differently from English writers. The <a href="http://www.online-literature.com/periods/naturalism.php">Naturalists</a>, with their anti-romantic, hyper realist commitment to scientific rigour, treated bodily smells with high seriousness. </p>
<p>One of their number, the French novelist, <a href="http://www.huysmans.org/">J-K Huysmans</a>, wrote a famous essay (Le Gousset, 1874) comparing the natural armpit odours of blondes (“heady as sugared wines”), redheads (“sharp and fierce”) and raven-haired women (“audacious and fatiguing”), and had disparaging things to say about the odours of city women (“ammoniated valerian”, “prussic acid” and “chlorinated urine”), compared with their country kin (“wild duck” and “olives”). All this with a straight face.</p>
<p>James Joyce’s capturing of smell intensified in the course of his long writing career. <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11012.Dubliners">Dubliners</a> (1904-1914) barely registers smell – even the Misses Morkan’s Christmas feast in his celebrated short story “The Dead” is an aromatics-free zone, with the visuals dominating. Similarly in “Grace”, the collapsed inebriate’s bloody face after his fall is detailed. His stench is not. If the air is “musty” or “fragrant”, the notice is in passing, a decorative descriptive flourish while he concentrates on the conflicted mindscapes of his paralysed and self-contradicting Dubliners.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173715/original/file-20170614-30107-145nqoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173715/original/file-20170614-30107-145nqoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Scents can ignite memories.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bdemir/4095720982/">BüniD/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7588.A_Portrait_of_the_Artist_as_a_Young_Man?from_search=true">A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man</a> (1916), smells become more insistent, but they tend to be highly conventional, and morally toned, or ignite memories. The religious zealot’s prayers rise up to God in wafts of “spikenard and myrrh and frankincense” while the hell Joyce creates to terrorise the sinner reeks of the sewer, offal and decaying corpses, itemised with comic hyperbole, as well as of more conventional smells - “sulfurous brimstone” and “pestilential odours”. Purity and defilement are the symbolic modus operandi.</p>
<p>There are hints in Portrait of the direction to be taken later in <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/338798.Ulysses?from_search=true">Ulysses</a> (1922), when Stephen, in the spirit of mortifying his body, seeks out particularly disgusting smells. Lacking an “instinctive repugnance” to smells that repel others, he subjects his body to one that does revolt him: “a certain stale fishy stink like that of longstanding urine”. It is the experimental quality of this penitential programme that suggests a methodology that is systematically implemented in Ulysses, and subsequently abandoned in his dreamscape novel, <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11013.Finnegans_Wake?from_search=true">Finnegans Wake</a> (1939). Perhaps Joyce didn’t have olfactory dreams?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173718/original/file-20170614-28647-lz51l1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173718/original/file-20170614-28647-lz51l1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the protagonist seeks out particularly disgusting smells.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/letsbook/5342724161/in/photolist-997RKP-bKHupV-ptyZuQ-w8S2VE-4ZbpZe-6RuXvq-tYZoH-Fibi4g-32LprL-b55fRt-DSzUT-HHNxp-9TyiG1-4BoEVP-bEm86H-mZaG3j-Cepgwx-oyJFDt-dSnTvP-4FE4XB-7vxrym-r4FMVS-4FJp4Y-hZHPw-dzeWwy-pt476E-9Tvtji-834oNo-4FJew9-4FJozJ-4JidXc-4FE5Sv-82YvsV-8Er1a1-oz1w7V-oAL7gc-4FJg5w-4FE4gr-8hViHf-Ci1GLH-HLspnG-oyYHyd-oyYFzd-oyNoDm-bWAYup-4FJfiw-JSk6Nu-4FEcpp-9ypNE-4FJdbh">lets.book/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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<p>There is a palpable gear-change, however, in representing the olfactory in Ulysses (composed 1914-22). It is well known that the novel is encyclopaedic in design – a “book of the world”, as Marilyn French styles it. It is crammed with allusions to his literary rivals (the Bible, Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, Yeats, among many), to organs of the body, and their excretory functions (not one is omitted), to music from opera to street rhymes, and with real persons, streets, workplaces and Dublin marginalia. </p>
<p>Only two critics have noted its catalogue of smells, both detailed and implied. Still, a working database of smells in the book, compiled by Melbourne scriptwriters who were writing a play about Joyce and smell, runs to 41 pages. And the tenor of how Joyce deploys smells also undergoes a sea-change. His focus is steadily on the everyday smells of living – in a house, on the streets, or in a body, especially an eroticized one.</p>
<h2>Body odour and black fabrics</h2>
<p>There are many reasons Joyce’s take on the ordinary, everyday smells of bodies was revolutionary in his day and is still so in ours. The iconoclast in Joyce by the time he was writing Ulysses presents odoriferous bodies matter-of-factly, to raise many questions, some quite philosophical in tendency. </p>
<p>Do rich bodies smell differently from poor ones? What is to be learned from one’s “toe-jam” about the continuity of life? And from one’s excrement about one’s well-being? Is man-smell different from woman-smell? Are women attractive to men olfactorily when menstruating? Do smells cling to black fabrics more than other kinds and why? Where do body odours come from – from ingested food, from nether parts, armpits or neck? Does one fall in love at first smell? Why do humans get pleasure from perfumes? Might they get pleasure from undeodorised bodily smells? Are they perhaps not very different from animals in the role smelling plays in erotic encounters? Can the nose sabotage the brain?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173721/original/file-20170614-21315-1x2aerh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173721/original/file-20170614-21315-1x2aerh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How much impact does our nose have on our brain?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?src=aJg3_TVJOozCXLUJpQ_6qQ-1-34">from www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In detailing the smells public and private of his world, Joyce takes on a newly emerging medical research machine – the sexologists of the decades abutting the turn of the 20th century. He certainly knew his Freud, and Jung treated Joyce’s daughter Lucia. </p>
<p>Joyce actively and transgressively has fun in Ulysses with the adjudicator of deviance, the German psychiatrist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_von_Krafft-Ebing">Richard von Krafft-Ebing</a> and his catalogue of sexual deviance, <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/462767.Psychopathia_Sexualis?from_search=true">Psychopathia Sexualis</a> (1886), the raciest parts of which are written in Latin, to deter the non-medically trained. </p>
<p>He even more productively puts to good use the findings of the more liberal Havelock Ellis who devoted a lengthy chapter to smell in his multi-volume <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/972112.Studies_in_the_Psychology_of_Sex?from_search=true">Studies in the Psychology of Sex </a>(1897-1928).</p>
<p>But, being Joyce, his treatment of what these medical/psychological luminaries have to say about smell is joco-serious, and astonishingly prescient. He is curious about the perfume culture, and more radically about natural body odours, the impulse to disguise them, and their links to eroticism. He’s aware of the function of the aprocrine glands of the <a href="http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/axillae">axillae</a> in sexual arousal (and way ahead of the science in being so). He’s not bothered by the divide between human and animal, and does not fear to venture into the murky intersection of art and pornography, finding both moments of transcendence mingling with what is ridiculous in human behavior.</p>
<p>The smell journey in Ulysses is mainly its protagonist Leopold Bloom’s, and in the second half of “Nausicaa”, a chapter devoted to eye and nose, Joyce gives us Bloom trying to sort out what “mansmell” and “womansmell” might be, and where it comes from:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Tell you what it is. It’s like a fine veil or web they have all over the skin, fine like what do you call it gossamer and they’re always spinning it out of them, fine as anything, rainbow colours without knowing it. Clings to everything she takes off. Vamp of her stockings. Warm shoe, Stays. Drawers. …. Know her [Molly’s] smell in a thousand…. Bathwater too. …. wonder where it is really. There or the armpits or under the neck. Because you get it out of all holes and corners.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But Bloom’s wife Molly is also a connoisseur, if potty-tongued. She is deeply offended that her husband Leopold Bloom has not put barriers in the way of his rival, Blazes Boylan, and smell is a way to taunt her husband (like a hunting dog, she erroneously believes she can discern the perfume of another woman on his clothes).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173724/original/file-20170614-21350-j1u50l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173724/original/file-20170614-21350-j1u50l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In detailing the smells - public and private - of his world, Joyce takes on a newly emerging medical research machine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mszeto/1516373438/in/photolist-3iZNZC-c8g651-7N1Nes-7jUSwr-ceMQo-nznk8k-bkkaPZ-TzpNNi-bkkaTk-6s4DWo-GG9RxH-7ZMwU7-3Qj84T-rxCPba-8g3Bwo-gGebup-8xVCTf-67ooqT-BNq4i-5dVg6N-9yjJ4m-4HhjXj-4vhAy3-bkkaWV-6AhiGL-bkkdH6-bkkeqH-r6GR39-9J9cK1-55SSwn-a2peJz-8nzZMh-bpEVz4-brEPLr-onczva-a2peMv-aoBUui-9J9djA-rnxyq-ewNaiL-bkkcfB-bKrDyr-43951G-xQRLJ-eQNnEd-5kps8v-5yakD3-7rVW93-nRAXFa-5ktLEq">lilszeto/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What Joyce does with smell at the height of Bloom’s epiphany at the end of Ch.17 (Ithaca) is nothing short of resignifying the most abject part of the anatomy and smell is the lure. Bloom, having gone through an inventory of his moral and legal options in relation to his wife’s adultery, enters the traduced marital bed fully conscious of his rival’s smells and traces of the picnic the adulterers had enjoyed in it, and is overwhelmed by the smell and cosmic shape of his wife’s posterior:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>He kissed the plump mellow yellow smellow melons of her rump, on each plump melonous hemisphere, in their mellow yellow furrow, with obscure prolonged provocative melonsmellonous osculation.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Just as on the Hill of Howth, Bloom had fallen in love with Molly at first smell, Joyce makes it clear that in this moment, his limbic brain has sabotaged his thinking brain. Her “adipose anterior and posterior female hemispheres” undergo a metamorphosis, becoming heavenly: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>islands of the blessed, the isles of Greece, the land of promise … redolent of milk and honey. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>For some, this would be blasphemy. For Joyce, I would argue, it was to modernize and secularise the notion of the body, in all its moral frailty and compromises, as a temple.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78832/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frances Devlin-Glass is affiliated with Bloomsday in Melbourne, a not-for-profit group that has run a James Joyce Festival, Bloomsday in Melbourne, since 1994. It is a voluntary activity and she derives no income from it.</span></em></p>Smell is the Cinderella of the senses in Anglophone literature, but James Joyce wrote an olfactory revolution. His treatment of the science of smell was astonishingly prescient.Frances Devlin-Glass, Associate Professor, Literary Studies, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/715582017-02-15T19:10:12Z2017-02-15T19:10:12ZSomething smells off: Kate Grenville's case against fragrance<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156895/original/image-20170215-19591-130ebtr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fragrance is intimately linked with our memories and feelings. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/picturepurrfect685/4893592413/">J. Sibiga Photography/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Scents, fragrances, perfumes. These words transform the mere concept of odours into something more evocative. Fragrance is intimately linked with our memories and feelings. </p>
<p>For me the heavy smell of eucalyptus is forever associated with summer. A waft of its scent and my mind brings up the feeling of heat and the buzzing of cicadas. Kate Grenville shares a similar reminiscence of her mother’s perfume in her latest book, <a href="https://www.textpublishing.com.au/books/the-case-against-fragrance">The Case Against Fragrance</a>. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156898/original/image-20170215-16156-ejb7p0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156898/original/image-20170215-16156-ejb7p0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Goodreads</span></span>
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<p>So why a case against? As Grenville writes, “Surely only a weirdo wouldn’t enjoy the smell of flowers and pine forests?”</p>
<p>But consider those to whom fragrances bring blinding headaches, asthma attacks and allergies. Something like a third of all Australians have <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5122698/">adverse reactions to fragrance</a>, with nearly 8% so severe that the people involved have lost work days.</p>
<p>Grenville builds the case that fragrance is having a significant adverse impact in modern society through personal anecdote and peer-reviewed research. On the way she takes us through the multitudinous things that fall under the term “fragrance”: how we perceive it, who regulates (or fails to regulate) its components, who tests it for safety, and how we can share the air together, fragrance fans and foes alike.</p>
<p>Readers may be puzzled. We have been using fragrances for thousands of years: how could something so ubiquitous be harmful? Surely we would have noticed before now? But let me remind you that we used toxic white lead as a <a href="http://all-that-is-interesting.com/makeup-history">cosmetic for centuries</a> before realising its harms.</p>
<p>Grenville points out that many of the natural essential oils that form the basis of fragrances have adverse or toxic effects that have only recently been recognised. The properties that make the chemicals in fragrances able to vaporise easily and stimulate our sense of smell also mean that many are highly reactive and able to stimulate immune reactions.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156899/original/image-20170215-19589-e8jgsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156899/original/image-20170215-19589-e8jgsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip"></a>
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<span class="caption">Carvacrol, the chemical behind oregano’s odour.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian Musgrave</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One example is <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4404258/">carvacrol</a>, the chemical that gives oil of oregano its distinctive scent. It can also chemically react with proteins to stimulate an immune response. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damascenone">β-damascenone</a>, whose chemical structure looks like an industrial hazard, is a natural compound found in rose essential oils and Kentucky bourbon (it is safe at fragrance concentrations, but can <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18031890">cause allergic reactions</a>). 1,8-cineol, which is part of the distinctive smell of eucalyptus, can cause liver damage if you <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7651249?dopt=Abstract">consume enough of it</a>.</p>
<p>Grenville shows that with modern processes fragrances are more available than ever before. Whereas in the past perfumes were expensive items used only occasionally outside those well-off, fragrances are now everywhere, not only in perfumes but in air fresheners, detergents and laundry liquids to name a few places we find them.</p>
<p>The rise of synthetic fragrances has the advantage of low cost and less need to use animals. (We no longer need to extract <a href="http://www.fragrantica.com/notes/Civet-104.html">musk from the glands of civets</a>.) But this ubiquitous use and higher concentration of fragrances means that more people are exposed to fragrances for longer than ever before.</p>
<p>Grenville smoothly charts this rise, and the regulatory and safety issues. Fact-dense and extensively referenced, the book is a delight to read and never gets bogged down. I may be biased, of course, by my love of chemistry.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156900/original/image-20170215-19589-1ow9hxp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156900/original/image-20170215-19589-1ow9hxp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">β-damascenone, found in roses. And Kentucky bourbon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian Musgrave</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>While some of the science has been simplified, the book generally conveys the sense of it correctly. I particularly salute Grenville for working through the labyrinth that is Australia’s <a href="https://www.nicnas.gov.au/">National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme</a> (you can find the NICNAS section on <a href="https://www.nicnas.gov.au/cosmetics-and-soaps">cosmetics</a> here). The issue of regulation is a thorny one, given the current mood of government is for less, but the book gives a good walk-through of the regulatory and testing issues. Anyone who can write about NICNAS without inducing somnolence is a master indeed.</p>
<p>While the issues around fragrance and headaches, respiratory issues and allergies are well documented and supported, the issues around hormone (or endocrine) disruption are less clear. There is <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa064725#t=article">evidence</a> that high concentrations of some of the essential oils that make up fragrances (and other non-odoriferous components that go into fragrances) can activate hormone receptors. But these compounds are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22467034">hundreds to thousands of times weaker</a> than our natural hormones.</p>
<p>Grenville gives <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diethylstilbestrol">diethyl stilboestrol</a> (DES), used in therapy, as an example of how endocrine disruptors can affect health. But DES is very potent, hundreds to thousands of times more potent than the weak hormone mimics in fragrances and cosmetics. This could give people a misleading impression of the risk associated with fragrances. We’ve seen <a href="https://theconversation.com/will-your-lipstick-cause-early-menopause-37016">similar discussions about phthalates found in cosmetics</a>.</p>
<p>Statements such as, “We know about the dangers of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A">endocrine disruptor bisphenol A</a> in our plastic water bottles,” are unhelpful because they are basically untrue, <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&amp;q=musgrave+BPA+">based on exaggeration</a> of risks.</p>
<p>Nonetheless the issues around other risks, regulation and fragrance in the workplace are well developed and thoughtful. Read The Case Against Fragrance and you will never think about fragrance in the same way again. If you have been suffering fragrance in silence, you will know you are not alone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71558/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Musgrave receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council to study adverse reactions to herbal medicines and has previously been funded by the Australian Research Council to study potential natural product treatments for Alzheimer&#39;s disease. He does not use fragrances generally, although his youngest son&#39;s fondness for fragrance diffuser sticks can be a bit overpowering.</span></em></p>Surely only a weirdo wouldn't enjoy the smell of flowers and pine forests? But as Kate Grenville writes in her latest book, fragrance causes untold misery to many of us.Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/603542016-06-06T16:30:35Z2016-06-06T16:30:35ZWhy gendered deodorants work – particularly for some men<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/125383/original/image-20160606-13085-52l7e6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Old Spice may be the solution for those looking to be more manly.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.google.co.uk/search?site=imghp&amp;tbm=isch&amp;q=old+spice+&amp;tbs=sur:fmc&amp;gws_rd=cr&amp;ei=v4FVV7rDOsXfU8TeoZgM#gws_rd=cr&amp;imgrc=YAfhzYj7r-mn2M%3A">youtube.come</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Adverts for male deodorants – such as Old Spice or Axe/Lynx – typically promise a boost in manliness and romantic success for those discerning enough to try the products. But can artificial fragrances, mixed with our natural body odours, really make us appear more masculine or feminine? Our <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S109051381630068X">latest research</a> reveals this may indeed be the case. We found that men who are perceived as not being particularly masculine benefit the most from using deodorant. </p>
<p>As you would expect, this is all about sex and our search for the ideal partner. Both masculinity and femininity are important qualities in potential romantic partners. For example, studies have linked masculine physical traits in men to various indicators of “quality”, such <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17160983">as physical strength</a>, <a href="http://bit.ly/28ffhjz">good health</a>, and <a href="http://humupd.oxfordjournals.org/content/12/4/417.full">reproductive capacity</a>. Similarly, feminine traits in women also indicate reproductive quality – <a href="http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/273/1583/135">studies have linked</a> feminine facial features with higher oestrogen levels.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">“I’m on a horse”.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Given the relevance of masculinity and femininity in assessing romantic partners it’s not surprising that fragrances are often tailored to be either masculine or feminine, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joss.12014/abstract">with only a minority marketed as unisex</a>. But we wanted to know how successful such products actually are in manipulating our perceptions of masculinity and femininity when mixed with a person’s natural body odour. </p>
<h2>The experiment</h2>
<p>Masculinity and femininity can be assessed in many ways, such as facial structure, voice and body odour. We used this in our study to collect masculinity and femininity ratings of both faces and odours and then see how the relationship between these was altered by artificial fragrances (participants’ own deodorants).</p>
<p>In total, 20 men and 20 women provided us with facial photographs, “unaltered” odour samples and “odour plus deodorant” samples. These were then judged and rated by heterosexual participants (130 face raters and 239 odour raters) on the basis of their masculinity or femininity.</p>
<p>Given that previous findings have found that femininity is usually seen in <a href="http://evp.sagepub.com/content/8/3/147470491000800311.short">faces and voices simultaneously</a> while masculinity is often linked across <a href="http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/05/30/beheco.arr061.short">faces, voices and body odour</a>, we predicted that participants would give similar ratings to both faces and odours. </p>
<p>However, only female participants did. Ratings given by men showed no agreement between the faces and odours of different donors. It could be that men are not as accurate at assessing the stimuli, or perhaps they were less motivated in the study.</p>
<p>Though the lack of agreement in men’s ratings of faces and odours is not an objective measure of olfactory accuracy, they are not surprising as sex differences in olfactory perception have been reported before, with <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11547515">women often outperforming men</a>. It is perhaps just as well, as <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222672798_He_sees_she_smells_Male_and_female_reports_of_sensory_reliance_in_mate_choice_and_non-mate_choice_contexts">women place a greater importance on smell</a> when assessing potential partners. </p>
<p>One explanation for this sex difference is that women have <a href="http://www.roberttrivers.com/Publications_files/Trivers%201972.pdf">greater biological costs of reproduction</a> than men do. It is therefore more important for them to be able to accurately assess an individual’s quality before they begin a relationship with them. Men on the other hand can afford to be less picky as sperm is (relatively) cheap.</p>
<p>We also found that when women applied deodorant this significantly increased their ratings of “odour femininity”. In other words, if a woman had a low rating of femininity for her face and natural odour, applying deodorant would increase this, but she would still have lower femininity than “more feminine” women who were wearing deodorant.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/125363/original/image-20160606-25972-15vipv1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Love: in the nose of the beholder?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/downloading_tips.mhtml?code=&amp;id=353646365&amp;size=huge&amp;image_format=jpg&amp;method=download&amp;super_url=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.shutterstock.com%2Fgatekeeper%2FW3siZSI6MTQ2NTI0MjI2MCwiYyI6Il9waG90b19zZXNzaW9uX2lkIiwiZGMiOiJpZGxfMzUzNjQ2MzY1IiwiayI6InBob3RvLzM1MzY0NjM2NS9odWdlLmpwZyIsIm0iOiIxIiwiZCI6InNodXR0ZXJzdG9jay1tZWRpYSJ9LCJuZXVDeWMrS3pXZk5ubmtTbzAwMFBYMW1uR2siXQ%2Fshutterstock_353646365.jpg&amp;racksite_id=ny&amp;chosen_subscription=1&amp;license=standard&amp;src=Y9x7dT9p6jC31x8LVixg-g-1-2">Artem Tymoshenko/shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>This pattern was completely different in men. Men who were rated as less masculine before applying deodorant benefited from a significant boost to their ratings after using deodorant. On the other hand, men who had a higher masculinity rating from the start were not rated differently after using deodorant. This finding suggests that some men may actually be able to use deodorant to enhance their masculinity in a way that may “level the playing field” (at least as far as odour is concerned), between themselves and their more masculine compatriots.</p>
<h2>Evolutionary origin?</h2>
<p>We hypothesise that the findings may reflect the difference between our preferences for masculinity and femininity. Both traits seem important in partner choice, but studies show that there is an <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10717775">optimum preferred level of masculinity</a>. This is because masculinity also has <a href="http://faceresearch.org/students/notes/masculinity.pdf">negative connotations</a> such as aggression, poor cooperation, and poor parenting – not ideal traits in a romantic partner.</p>
<p>Interestingly, there are no studies suggesting that there is an optimum level of femininity. These findings suggest that our evolved biological preferences (for differential levels of masculinity and femininity) have potentially shaped the design of the fragrances which we use – female fragrances can be as feminine as they like without penalty, but no one wants an extremely masculine deodorant. </p>
<p>Of course, it is not entirely clear why we perceive certain artificial odours as masculine or feminine. It could be that this is something that is entirely driven by marketing or culture, as it is likely that interpretations of masculinity and femininity vary cross-culturally. But it could also be that these fragrances are in some way similar to natural odours. I don’t mean that we create fragrances which smell like body odour, but body odours are complex and have hundreds of compounds within them and perhaps some of these are similar (perceptually) to some of the compounds used in a fragrance. Take, for example, the use of animal musk in fragrances.</p>
<p>While these findings are intriguing, they only represent one study and must be interpreted cautiously until we have further evidence. However, it does reveal the tip of an iceberg. There are countless studies showing that we can find out a lot about a potential partner from their body odour, including <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4528100/">health status</a>, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3719001/">personality</a>, <a href="http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/comm/haselton/unify_uploads/files/gildersleeve%20et%20al.%202012%20hormones%20and%20behvior.pdf">fertility</a> and even <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10886-010-9827-x">genetic relatedness</a>. Our avid <a href="http://www.toddkshackelford.com/downloads/Roberts-Miner-Shackelford-RGP-2010.pdf">use of fragranced products</a> therefore necessitates further investigations which may one day reveal a lot about our everyday social interactions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/60354/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Caroline Allen ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d&#39;une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n&#39;a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son poste universitaire.</span></em></p>Deodorants can benefit us all. But manly men can skip it if they like, finds study.Caroline Allen, Researcher, University of StirlingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/376012015-02-13T15:37:19Z2015-02-13T15:37:19ZPerfume could be the riskiest gift you'll ever buy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/71988/original/image-20150213-13186-1eqhfhx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Those of a nervous disposition might be better off buying chocolates.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mulazimoglu/3735323008/in/photolist-6G5voQ-fMXAzU-4LZQRo-ePdfMM-vcZdv-aw2z86-7tU9yV-jY4aK9-q6Dsco-4XbQ7-7Ejjno-zarQ8-q6JNwE-5dVg6N-oYTPGs-NTtGd-7cabK3-nPdehk-jY1AqZ-prxFvv-c149dN-qkV7yA-cT8D2J-jY2mJX-aoBUui-4zUCkE-9hyVRn-aJXhr-8MY69r-jY4xkH-qTJxoa-qof8VE-4viA68-qm2oZ9-4MSdPW-sPL3U-6bK3wZ-cSWCBf-dbA5Pp-2ydftJ-9RtFqZ-5SxfVH-bkkaPZ-prxpik-7o9Jmv-7bEfTM-9UpTqx-gtY8K-cSWygw-a1uZNL">Özgür Mülazımoğlu</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When it comes to making careful plans to impress that significant other, certain things can seem like musts. Classy restaurant – check. Romantic atmosphere – check. Best suit or little black dress – check. </p>
<p>Many will pay just as much attention to how they smell, of course. And if it’s a special occasion, a gift of perfume might well be on the agenda too. Either way, read on. There are some must-knows about the science of smell and perfume that may well be new to you. </p>
<h2>The nose knows</h2>
<p>Smell is the <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/life-sciences/animal-behaviour/pheromones-and-animal-behavior-chemical-signals-and-signatures-2nd-edition">dominant sense</a> in many animals, including humans, and meetings between individuals usually begin with a period of intense mutual sniffing. From this olfactory exploration, animals glean relevant information about a potential mate’s fertility and quality, enabling decisions about whether to breed now or wait until someone better comes along. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/71963/original/image-20150213-13215-z9pqxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/71963/original/image-20150213-13215-z9pqxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Love at first sniff.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/tambako/15117673210/in/photolist-h1C5hy-a17emy-2iRdkK-p2U2y7-4EtKQ8-HgKS3-mHBj9c-88cHnT-91qfZb-aEUtAs-aF1LY-8x4P1q-dc3vmC-8LVaAY-aGTNTv-34Asgk-guHzmq-pKKKDb-czNKfs-4oznHG-gusizf-4YjXZ7-djhgf8-fhKRow-4ynRtk-4f3VdZ-guHrjU-kqJqt-7fLYvM-fsaSU-fx343N-4LLrZ3-7fQUs3-nvBMtH-bQt62g-adaSFq-4u5tqN-6piHvf-9ov4H2-4nMc9r-57YMsB-8wxuTj-6upCwi-9wWzvS-dtZiqH-4u5t7Q-9kkx71-ptKFzw-mgzVuo-9Dfugb">Tambako the Jaguar</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While our greetings tend to be more reserved, research on the perception of human body odour reveals that similar messages lurk within our armpits. Researchers commonly test such perceptions using armpit odour collected on worn t-shirts or underarm pads, the wearers having been asked to avoid using fragranced products beforehand. </p>
<p>In <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1439-0310.2006.01125.x/abstract">experimental tests</a>, men find women’s odour more pleasant and sexy when they are in the fertile part of their menstrual cycle than at other times. Women are more attracted to odours of men who have attractive non-olfactory qualities, such as being <a href="http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/1/3/256">socially dominant</a>, <a href="http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/266/1422/869">facially attractive</a>, or having an <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21879430">air of confidence</a> about them. So smells are important when assessing partners, <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886908002250">especially for women</a>.</p>
<p>Our body’s natural smells also appear to provide a for couples to check out their genetic compatibility. Research using the same t-shirt method <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19054623">indicates that</a> both sexes prefer the odour of potential partners who are genetically dissimilar when it comes to a set of genes known as the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). A range of other vertebrates, from fish and reptiles to birds and mammals, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1439-0310.2002.00768.x/abstract">show the same smell preference</a>, apparently because this ultimately produces healthier offspring.</p>
<h2>Arcane aromas</h2>
<p>So where do perfumes fit into the picture? Applying perfume to the body <a href="http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199586073.001.0001/acprof-9780199586073-chapter-0020">probably emerged</a> as a means of disguising the build-up of odour on clothing, which in times past was often worn for weeks or months at a time. Because ingredients were expensive, perfumes were associated with high social status. </p>
<p>There are numerous references to people using perfume in ancient scripts including the <a href="http://www.kubik.org/health/perfumes.htm">Old Testament</a> and the writings of the Roman natural historian <a href="http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/the-scent-of-love-ancient-perfumes/">Pliny the Elder</a>. The oldest known perfume factory, <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/03/070329-oldest-perfumes.html">discovered 12 years ago</a> near the Cypriot town of Pyrgos, dates back about 4000 years.</p>
<h2>Eau de yes please</h2>
<p>Nowadays, of course, perfumes are relatively cheap and accessible. Despite this and the advent of washing machines and ventilated kitchens, we continue to use them. The social stigma of bad body-odour persists, and the modern fragrance industry is worth billions of pounds worldwide.</p>
<p>But if we need perfumes to simply mask our bad odour, why are there so many different products available? And how do perfumes change or block the potentially relevant information contained within body odour? </p>
<p>Research is now challenging the conventional view that perfumes simply mask bad odour. <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0033810">In one study</a>, researchers asked participants to wear cotton underarm pads, as described above, but they were instructed to apply a particular fragrance under one armpit while leaving the other fragrance-free. Unsurprisingly perhaps, volunteer sniffers later found the fragranced armpit odour to be more pleasant. </p>
<p>But then the researchers asked a new set of participants to apply their fragrance of choice under one armpit and to apply another fragrance, chosen by the experimenters, under the other. This time, the sniffers judged the fragrance/body odour blends as more attractive when they involved the wearer’s own preferred fragrance – even though the sniffers found the two fragrances roughly comparable when there was no body odour involved. The conclusion? People select fragrances that complement their own body odour, producing a favourable blend. </p>
<p>How might we achieve this? This question brings us back to the MHC genes that we mentioned earlier. A <a href="http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/content/12/2/140.short">key study</a> determined the MHC group of different sniffers and then noted which odours they preferred among a range of common ingredients that might contribute to a perfume that they would wear. </p>
<p>The results revealed a correlation between certain MHC groups and preferences for certain ingredients, suggesting that we choose fragrances that enhance the MHC signals that we are already giving off. Yet these correlations disappeared when the same sniffers rated the ingredients for a perfume their partner might choose to wear. At the genetic level, perfume preferences only work when thinking about ourselves.</p>
<p><a href="http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/280/1755/20122889">Another experiment</a> took a slightly different approach to reach a similar conclusion. Researchers first extracted MHC peptides, a signature component of MHC molecules, from a number of volunteers. They then spiked samples of the volunteers’ body odour with peptides representative of either their own MHC or of other people’s MHC. When they were then asked to choose which spiked odour sample smelled like themselves, they tended to choose the one spiked with their own MHC peptides.</p>
<h2>Back to the perfume counter</h2>
<p>Taken together, these studies suggest that we evaluate perfumes, at least in part, according to whether they suit our individual, genetically influenced odour.</p>
<p>In an ideal world we might all know our partner’s MHC genotype and choose perfumes that suited them accordingly, perhaps following some helpful system of colour coding or the like. Unfortunately this doesn’t look likely to happen in any major way any time soon – the test currently costs about £160 a head. </p>
<p>So what lessons can be learned from these studies? One main point is that choosing a perfume for your partner based on your own preference is unlikely to work well. Your best bet is to ask perfume shop staff to select a perfume that smells roughly similar to the one you know your partner likes. Or do it yourself using perfume finders online, such as <a href="http://perfumesociety.org/fred/">FR.eD</a> or <a href="http://nose.fr/en/the-project/introduction">Nose</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/71977/original/image-20150213-13223-1d2tn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/71977/original/image-20150213-13223-1d2tn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Choose your weapon!</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&amp;language=en&amp;ref_site=photo&amp;search_source=search_form&amp;version=llv1&amp;anyorall=all&amp;safesearch=1&amp;use_local_boost=1&amp;search_tracking_id=bkmnOnOJcpM9lEQIFzpDMg&amp;searchterm=perfume%20&amp;show_color_wheel=1&amp;orient=&amp;commercial_ok=&amp;media_type=images&amp;search_cat=&amp;searchtermx=&amp;photographer_name=&amp;people_gender=&amp;people_age=&amp;people_ethnicity=&amp;people_number=&amp;color=&amp;page=1&amp;inline=235754521">Nutexzles</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For those choosing a fragrance for themselves, the lesson is to ensure you select one that really suits you. In the study of odour/fragrance blends, there were a few wearers who bucked the trend and smelled better with the experimenter-assigned perfume than with the brand they chose themselves. </p>
<p>So it’s always worth investing some time in making a choice, and to test-drive it on your skin first. If this sounds daunting, you can at least proceed in the knowledge that the person best placed to decide what perfume suits you best is looking back at you in the mirror.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/37601/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Craig receives odour/fragrance funding from BBSRC and Unilever, but none of the results from those grants are presented here. He also sometimes consults for perfume companies such as Unilever and P&amp;G, but not at present. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kelly receives funding from a Fyssen Fellowship (France) and is affiliated to the Laboratory of Experimental and Comparative Ethology (LEEC) at The University of Paris 13, France.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Caroline Allen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When it comes to making careful plans to impress that significant other, certain things can seem like musts. Classy restaurant – check. Romantic atmosphere – check. Best suit or little black dress – check…S Craig Roberts, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of StirlingCaroline Allen, Researcher, University of StirlingKelly Cobey, Honourary Researcher (Psychology: Hormones and Behaviour), University of StirlingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/345022014-11-27T06:20:21Z2014-11-27T06:20:21ZThe changing world of perfume and why some chemicals are being taken out<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65607/original/image-20141126-4258-18hse9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;rect=1%2C0%2C697%2C487&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Making scents of it. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/miadcommunicationdesign/4204450429/sizes/o/in/photolist-7pwUCD-2hdMFa-99YCk1-2hdMEe-7vr9Td-dCFouT-ckE6B3-7pAPxE-2hif6q-eh87ib-7pAPKC-dywV1X-7pwUxV-7pwVHT-2h9bd8-7pAPY7-7pAPPL-7pAPpJ-7pAPm1-7pwW6D-7pAQ3o-7pAPUw-7pAPth-8f69nx-neMB1e-dptha4-9kz49X-99ckrT-eqBYPY-abTeak-gqF5fh-Lhzs8-gqEKCB-gqFrJB-gqF51u-gqF5uL-gqEKLT-2vVkpu-dCVZUd-ddG9Z-8f69nt-8f69np-iXomWy-8f69nv-2BcFiW-6NqCr-59VCMj-u8kB5-4vnzBo-99MfFW-hEwEfg/">MIAD Communication Design</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There are two types of perfume in the world: the fast turnover celebrity perfumes, designed to hit the market and make profits before a star’s capital wanes; and the timeless classics, with their expensive ingredients and loyal followings. While the names endure, many of the ingredients and quantities have changed over time. </p>
<p>As the FT <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/21ded0e2-6f65-11df-9f43-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3K02ugfqE">recently reported</a>, ingredients and the amounts perfumers are allowed to use are increasingly being restricted by the International Fragrance Association, which regulates the industry. </p>
<p>One reason is the classification of some key ingredients, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/features/will-a-ban-on-oakmoss-kill-the-french-perfume-industry-9868986.html">such as oakmoss</a> – found in perfumes including Guerlain’s Mitsouko – is that they are allergenic. Other restrictions are now being applied to <a href="http://www.theecologist.org/green_green_living/health_and_beauty/1324498/death_by_jasmine_why_organic_perfumery_is_under_threat.html">jasmine</a> and ylang ylang. </p>
<p>Health, it seems, trumps pleasure. During the past half-century, concerns have grown over allergic reactions to molecules found in perfumes. And organic materials are just as much in the frame as synthetics. Each synthetic ingredient is comprised of just one molecule, but each natural material contain a lot of different molecules, each a potential allergen. So <a href="http://www.the-dermatologist.com/article/7134">jasmine</a> has come into the cross-hairs, as has oakmoss, a lichen. It is believed that two molecules found in oakmoss, atranol and chloroatranol, cause at least 20% of <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/features/will-a-ban-on-oakmoss-kill-the-french-perfume-industry-9868986.html">fragrance contact allergens</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65623/original/image-20141126-4250-1lznvst.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hitting the bottle.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/magicketchup/12554274215/sizes/l/in/photolist-k8nWkH-kDnd6n-gwWeBX-keTAPx-8EroY7-7Xi13b-578dWs-6XJiBb-6Q5oiW-4Pnqst-6g1JXk-5BgntE-bZBxef-k8nQb8-bZ4mjW-iXDTmF-bZ4mnC-bZ4mry-5x4T1B-ccRqsb-7pgv4C-7gcEJf-k8nJPX-pNLGJd-pyt5jG-bZ4myq-bZ4mXj-bZ4mDh-5kAfue-fusN69-bkkcfB-6J6RrD-4Bd9Xp-by9JYb-e2zp8r-4eogbs-jRdoU8-55zdFC-4MswzD-6c3F6s-9B7Pi2-4rkQRv-9Nx8Mu-by9HEY-aJXhx-6AsA7c-xQRLx-63LJXs-bZ4mKf-bkkdH6-bZ4mTf/">Magic Ketchup</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Many perfumers are concerned that there is no real substitute to supply the inimitable smell of oakmoss, and are <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/features/will-a-ban-on-oakmoss-kill-the-french-perfume-industry-9868986.html">looking to the European Commission</a> to set levels below which these key molecules can still be used rather than be removed entirely. </p>
<h2>Lucrative trade</h2>
<p>Perfumed materials have been around for thousands of years. The ancient civilisations of the Near and Middle East knew all about the fantastic odours when frankincense and sandalwood were burned, and these aromatic properties underpinned a lucrative trade. </p>
<p>Trade <a href="http://media.johnwiley.com.au/product_data/excerpt/89/11180967/1118096789-38.pdf">brought them to other lands</a>, such as Pharaonic Egypt (think, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/healthy-living/beauty-queen-what-perfume-did-cleopatra-dab-behind-her-ears-to-impress-mark-antony-and-caesar-994407.html">Cleopatra</a>). Arabs, 1,000 years ago, perfected the art of using steam distillation of plants as a way of obtaining essential oils, with a side benefit of producing delicately scented aqueous solutions such as rose water, popular in Arabia down to the present day. By the late Middle Ages, perfumes began to resemble the types we would recognise today, based on essential oils in alcoholic solution.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65621/original/image-20141126-4234-iks1dq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Never interrupt your enemy and always wear fine parfum.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/archer10/12083179374/sizes/l/in/photolist-jpKsfS-31vgFf-4XeSUX-4FTGPy-fC69K-nyQbZe-5suNAB-nyy2ou-nwKKZL-aqLJbt-agAZj-dHXjiW-bKKTPD-peztGm-iUjd6K-9ER8bR-aqUf5T-4NcrsM-nyz43E-8PbDGK-gbqDQe-nyx2fK-9QMmzC-pQej9T-eddua-6heizk-7qNHex-iStJa7-4C7yFv-6m2iL3-iSdAJH-67L4A-eUSu7u-psMr6v-dcH5C8-6Ao44s-vWRJW-b2ATq-5o9RkF-7qSBKA-7qSD27-9trw2m-7qSCDb-7Dj3iQ-cLncPW-3HMks-a6D5aB-KoJM2-6jnyxc-5a12Ce-9eRAa/">Archer10(Dennis)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>People in the Middle Ages did not necessarily apply perfumes to the body – <a href="http://www.cafleurebon.com/the-history-of-british-perfumery-by-master-perfumer-roja-dove-famous-british-perfumes-draw/">Henry V carried scented materials</a> like musk and ambergris that were believed to ward off the <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=eQMwptJKG5IC&amp;pg=PA103&amp;lpg=PA103&amp;dq=henry+V+perfume+plague&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=ezJjn91ukq&amp;sig=HqZQkfcwBdOwwJTiBfPzs9oiRUs&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=i-F1VN23MdPTaPiRgJgN&amp;redir_esc=y#v=onepage&amp;q=henry%20V%20perfume%20plague&amp;f=false">plague and bad odours</a>. Henry of Navarre, arguably France’s most popular monarch, reportedly <a href="http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/chapter/bk9780854048243-00003/978-0-85404-824-3#!divabstract">smelled so strongly of it</a> that his second wife, Marie de Medicis, fainted when she met him for the first time. After the French Revolution in 1799, the name Eau de Cologne became <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/32970193">synonymous with Napoleon Bonaparte</a>, who ordered a fair amount of the stuff.</p>
<h2>Planet organic</h2>
<p>Until the second part of the 19th century, perfumes were totally based on nature-sourced ingredients, largely obtained by pressing or distilling plant products. As organic chemists started to understand the structure of molecules and how to synthesise them, so new fragrances became possible. </p>
<p>Synthetics gave assured supplies of more familiar molecules while some were new, unknown in nature. Houbigant’s Fougere Royale (1882) made use of synthetic coumarin, originally isolated in tonka beans in 1820, while Guerlain’s Jicky (1889) used synthetic vanillin, <a href="http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/podcast/CIIEcompounds/transcripts/vanillin.asp">made possible</a> by the discovery of what is now known as the Reimer-Tiemann reaction in 1874. You can still buy Jicky today. It is often thought of as <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/jicky-the-first-modern-perfume-2355884/?no-ist">the first modern perfume</a> made using vertical structuring – the three “notes” we often think of comprising a perfume. </p>
<h2>Taking notes</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65624/original/image-20141126-4258-1jngbu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nicky Minaj launches hers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/evarinaldiphotography/8229253126/sizes/l/in/photolist-dxc5fA-dx6Brp-HefpR-bvxK8p-bxKbx2-bvGWCR-keTAPx-5vfLuG-dxc6NL-dxc5x3-dxc6WL-dx6Cy2-dx6Cer-dxc56U-dx6Bh6-4gGXG7-vcZbV-4cxSTd-dx6AmD-dx6ALV-dx6BAc-dx6AGF-dx6B1i-dx6C1x-dx6BcM-dxc63Y-dxc7hE-dx6DaD-dx6Azx-dx6CZR-dxc53w-dx6Aq8-dx6CJX-dxc6AY-dx6CUa-dxc4Ew-dxc6gq-dx6BuK-5suPS6-58HvqD-iXomWy-dnGGfu-dnGGkj-dTRUXD-dnGFFt-dnGDUt-dnGLiy-dnGLaA-dnGJvU-2uFUJC-dx6UYF/">Eva Rinaldi</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>The “top note” is the initial impact of a fragrance due to the lightest molecules, which predominates for the first few minutes, leading to the “middle note”, comprising the main fragrance and personality of the perfume, which can last for several hours. Eventually after all other molecules have escaped, this is replaced by the “bottom note” (base note or drydown), the residual smell, which remains with you until the perfume has totally evaporated. </p>
<p>These molecules – the heavy ones – also help to reduce the volatility of the others, so they are often known as fixatives. In Jicky, the initial impact is provided by top notes of lavender, lemon and bergamot, followed by a similarly cold and rosy middle, supported by a warm base of amber, musk and vanilla (“un ballet olfactif”, as it was once described).</p>
<h2>Cheaper synthetics</h2>
<p>Almost at the same time that Jicky was launched, a great piece of serendipity occurred. In 1888, a German chemist named Albert Baur nitrated 3-tert-butyltoluene, hoping that his product would be an even better explosive than TNT. It wasn’t, but it did have an outstanding musk smell and became known as “musk Baur”. Six years later, Baur went further, making musk ketone, reckoned to be the nearest in smell to natural musk. Until then, the source of musky smelling molecules for the “base note” of perfumes was the musk deer. </p>
<p>Though muscone, the primary chemical compound behind the musk smell, can be obtained without killing the animal, in practice the result was one dead deer. Baur’s discovery provided a cheaper synthetic and humane alternative. Nitromusks proved absolutely indispensable to perfumers <a href="http://perfumeshrine.blogspot.co.uk/2009/12/musk-series-2-natural-and-everything.html">for nearly a century</a>, until it was found that they could act as photosensitisers, which could lead to skin rashes. No wholly satisfactory replacement has been found.</p>
<p>Just after 1900 another great class of odour chemicals reached the perfumer’s palette. Georges Darzens hit upon the synthesis which bears his name, the Darzens condensation reaction, which proved to be an excellent way of making aldehydes, notably methyl nonyl acetaldehyde, which gives perfumes a fresh scent. This was used in Houbigant’s Quelques Fleurs (1912) and just after World War I it was among the aldehydes famously used by Ernest Beaux to supply a dazzling brightness to <a href="http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/chanel5/c5h.htm">No 5 for Coco Chanel</a>.</p>
<p>Chemists have created many other affordable odorant molecules in the service of the perfumer, such as ethyl vanillin (Shalimar), gamma-undecalactone (Mitsuoko), methyl dihydrojasmonate (Eau Sauvage; Chanel No 19), ethylmaltol (Angel) and Karanal (Gucci pour Homme).</p>
<h2>Aromatic blends</h2>
<p>Nearly all perfumes today use a blend of natural-sourced and synthetic molecules - more likely to be available and usually much cheaper too. Even though the cost of the ingredients in a perfume is much less <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1988-11-13/magazine/tm-10_1_perfume-cost">than the 5% of the shop price</a>(packaging and advertising cost far more), perfumers are regularly <a href="http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/05/22/celebrity-perfume-cost-breakdown/">under pressure</a> from bean-counting accountants to find cheaper ingredients, and that is no easy task.</p>
<p>Chemistry has helped perfumers find new ingredients and cheaper ones, but we also know much more than we did about allergens and what chemicals cause reactions. In more recent history, the nitromusks were among the first to be outlawed. Perfumers now have to find ways of perfecting smell without causing unwelcome reactions. Next time you catch a whiff of an amazing scent, reflect on the skill of the people – the chemists and perfumers – who bring this sensation to you and how the science of perfume has become even trickier.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/34502/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Cotton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There are two types of perfume in the world: the fast turnover celebrity perfumes, designed to hit the market and make profits before a star’s capital wanes; and the timeless classics, with their expensive…Simon Cotton, Senior Lecturer in Chemistry, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.